You can plainly see the magnetic head in the first set of photos, this is a huge warning flag and should alert anyone that is somewhat diligent in checking out ATMs before use. If you look at the first set of picture there is basically the same setup with a mag head attached. The second set of pictures looks like a basic “spy pen” that has been gutted with no magnetic head attached. Thanks again for your never ending effort to make the general public more attuned to the pitfalls facing all of us.Īlthough this might look small and scary, the reality is that it’s pretty sloppy and most anyone that has read one of your articles would notice this in the wild fairly easily. Recently, I had a chance to chat via instant message with a hacker in Eastern Europe who sells both audio-based ATM skimmers and the technology needed to decode audio skims or “dumps.” Below are some of the pictures of his wares that he sent me: Since then, other electronics enthusiasts have blogged about their experiments with sound skimmers for example, this guy discusses how he made a card reader device out of an old cassette recorder.

The basic method for conducting these attacks was mentioned in a 1992 edition of the hacker e-zine Phrack (the edition that explains audio-based skimmers is Phrack 37). The use of audio technology to record data stored on the magnetic stripe on the backs of all credit and debit cards has been well understood for many years. A separate micro camera embedded in the plastic steals the victim’s PIN. In the somewhat low-res pictures supplied by EAST here, the audio skimming device is mounted on a piece of plastic that fits over the ATM’s card reader throat. EAST noted that in at least one country, anti-skimming devices have been stolen and converted into skimmers, complete with micro cameras used to steal PINs.ĮAST said it also discovered that a new type of analog skimming device - using audio technology - has been reported by five countries, two of them “major ATM deployers” (defined as having more than 40,000 ATMs). The European ATM Security Team (EAST) found that 11 of the 16 European nations covered in the report experienced increases in skimming attacks last year. Criminals increasingly are cannibalizing parts from handheld audio players and cheap spy cams to make extremely stealthy and effective ATM skimmers, devices designed to be attached to cash machines and siphon card + PIN data, a new report warns.

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